Study of Different Hybrid Configurations of Reverse Osmosis and Multi Effect Evaporation Systems for Seawater Desalination

PAULA DRUETTA; SERGIO F. MUSSATI; MARIAN G. MARCOVECCHIO; PIO A. AGUIRRE

Buenos Aires

Conferencia; IWA 3rd Regional Membrane Technology Conference; 2012

International Water Association

This paper compares different seawater desalination technologies in order to provide a given and known fresh-water demand at minimum total cost. The desalination processes used for comparison are: a) multi-effect evaporation system, b) reverse osmosis system and c) hybrid configurations which result from the combination of the processes mentioned above. The study is performed by using rigorous optimization mathematical models for each process. The specific total annual cost is used as objective function to be minimized and it includes the investment and the operating cost of each piece of equipment. Advantages and disadvantages of each one of the proposed alternatives are discussed in detail through different case studies. In addition, the influence of the sea water conditions and fresh water demand on the whole process efficiency is also investigated. Optimization results reveal that the optimal process configuration (flow sheet) depends strongly on the seawater specifications, the electricity cost and the fresh water requirements.